


Connected skies

by Astelina



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-21 22:14:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17650871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astelina/pseuds/Astelina
Summary: Riku wakes up in the middle of the night to find Sora gone and immediately understands something is wrong.This is a short fic taking place before KH3.





	Connected skies

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I wake up from my perpetual slumber to throw out this real small, short fic at you all. It's something that has just been on my head since I played through all the games in the KH series in short succsession before KH3. I have yet to play KH3, so there is no chanse for any spoiler of it here. There is a tiny nod to BBS, but nothing that would spoil more than the opening scenes really.
> 
> Thinking back, KH has always been in my heart as one of the first games I ever really played, and it has really helped me form into the person I am. So, that's a big reason why I threw this together and give back to the fandom that has been with me since I was a little kid. Just something small, and hopefully a little bit warming in these cold times.
> 
> Enjoy!

He, Riku, knew something was wrong the moment he woke up.

It wasn’t uncommon for him to wake up in the middle of the night as he was a terribly light sleeper, but it was rare for him to wake up alone. He wasn’t afraid of the dark anymore, but he would be lying if he didn’t find comfort to have someone else next to him whenever he would wake up in the middle of the nights darkest hours.

By habit he reached for the other in their shared bed, and just as soon he found Sora’s usual spot empty.

Sora was the complete opposite of him in the regard of sleeping. He could fall asleep wherever, whenever, without any ounce of guard around him as he slept. His aloof and relaxed nature let him slumber undisturbed, never haunted by the worries that could keep Riku awake for hours without a trace of slumber.

Riku would always wake up on time and get ready for the day, while Sora could sleep on forever as if he had years of sleep to catch up on. We all know this isn’t the truth,but it never bothered Sora. Usually Riku would help wake the other up in a somewhat sensible time, but the few times he didn’t do it, Sora would emerge from their bedroom more tired as ever as he overslept by a long shot. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but it was sort of adorable seeing Sora trying to wake himself up and rouse the too many hours of sleep off of him. He was truly a hopeless case.

So, the fact that Sora was awake in the middle of the night, and gone, were equally amazing and worrying for Riku.

Not wanting his worry to be seen so blatantly, he slowly gets up from the bed and tiptoes to where he can get his pajama pants. Somewhat dressed for the otherwise cold apartment, Riku leaves the room and holds his breath for a brief moment.

...

It’s quiet.

The refrigerator buzzes comfortably in the kitchen, and the ventilation whispers it’s gossip between the walls undisturbed. Sora was neither sneaky or quiet, so he knows he would usually hear him within a minute or so if he was home… He reaches for a shirt and pulls it on as he begins wandering the small apartment they shared.

The couch was empty, kitchen likewise and even the bathroom was vacant. In fact, the whole place was quiet, and no sign of Sora. Deducing that the guy for some reason wasn’t home, he checked the hallway to look for Sora’s shoes and jacket.

A stone fell into the deepest pit of his gut as both items in question were gone.

“Sora, you can’t be serious..” His brow furrows as he takes up his phone to check the latest messages he shared with his partner. The sharp, white light illuminates the room as Riku tries to find any clue as of where the other had gone, but he found nothing. No messages or anything of the sort to nudge him in the right direction.

Sighing, he retreats back deeper into their apartment to find the warmest sweater he could find. He settles on the one he knows Sora loves to borrow off of him all the time and pretend it was his from the start. Riku then gets his own warm coat that would keep the chills away while looking for the other outside, and pulls it on to be ready for this hopefully brief search. Sora's jacket wasn't exactly warm, it only worked well while the sun was shining on the other. So, if Sora went out with only that, he would probably be cold by now.

Perhaps he was overthinking, perhaps he was underestimating the others ability to stay safe alone, but he just couldn't relax if he didn’t know the other was safe. Sora was like that, he had an affinity get into trouble and out of them as if it was nothing, but if Sora one day would get stuck somewhere he couldn’t get out on his own… He had promised himself to be there then. To be there by Sora’s side and make sure he makes the journey back home safely and unscratched.

He takes a backpack from the closet and throws the sweater inside it, and slings the bag over his shoulder as he makes his way back to the hallway. He pulls his shoes on, leaving the hallway empty as he emerges from their little apartment and out to the empty streets of their town. The air wasn’t as cold as he had worried for, but there was a cold chill that made him wish that Sora had stayed inside this night. He looked up and saw the lack of clouds, and sighs for the fiftieth time as he understands that it’s possibly a reason as of why the temperature dropped a few degrees since yesterday. At least the sky was pretty, if not a little too cold for his taste.

Sora wouldn’t go anywhere practical. It was far too late for any store to be open, so he must have had some sentimental reason to go out. Sure, Sora was carefree and all, but he did have his moments where he took things a little more serious than usual; usually when remembering things, or looking back on his journeys and the friends he had made so far.

So where would a somber Sora go..? He’s really stupid, so, probably the island… Riku groans and reaches to rub up his forehead and down the side of his face as the thought of the other fighting the currents in the dark only increased his worries. Leave it to that guy to take the boat at 3 am across a dark ocean, even if he wasn't spot free himself on that account... Sora would probably be fine, but Riku’s heart protested in worry at the thought of it still.

Quickly he steers his steps towards the beach. They had a small place not far off the place, and it was admittedly really charming. They had been to many worlds, him and Sora, and it took a few trips for him to appreciate their little place. Perhaps it was because they almost lost their home world because of him several years prior.. But count on Sora to somehow mend it back to how it always had been. And now it was their home, their cherished place of where they grew up and dreamed of adventures together.

It didn’t take long for him to reach the docks. The waves crashed rhythmically and yet chaotic against the sandy beach, and the familiar sound lulls his heart into a slightly calmer state. It was difficult to imagine anything bad happening to Sora while their home was this calm… And yet, he would continue to worry until he saw the doofuses face, and verify that he was actually, really, safe.

There is a mixed feeling as he looks at the boats… And he finds them all here. Sora’s, Riku’s and Kairi’s boat, along with the other kids that usually went out to the island to play. Sora was stupid, but never that stupid to try to swim to the island sans boat… He tries to think about all the places the other could have gone to as he turns around, and his heart almost stops as he sees a familiar figure sit by the edge of the beach, just a few steps away from the dock. He rested his back against a tree, and appeared to be snoozing peacefully, as if there wasn't a problem ever present in the worlds.

With a sigh, Riku shakes his head. Leave it to this guy to leave the apartment without a word to sleep outside. He smiles just a little to himself as he carefully he moves towards the others sleeping form, and squats down in front of him to examine him, trying to get any answers of the situation he can before trying to wake the other up.

His brow furrows as he sees the telltale sign of tears. Sora was a soft guy, and there was nothing wrong with crying. Yet, that worried him as there must have been something going through the guys head. Did he wake up in the middle of the night to do something spontaneous, and didn’t want to wake up and bother him…? Riku could understand that, but it puzzled him as of what it could be that would wreck the others heart to tears like this. It was a bit of a bittersweet feeling, that the other seemingly didn't want to bother Riku about it, but he also felt sad that he couldn't fully open up with what had been on his mind to him. Perhaps he wasn't always the easiest person to talk to, but he didn't want the other to face his battles alone.

That would be pretty much hypocritical, would it not? A small smile spreads over Riku's features as he shakes his head a little... Sora looked so peaceful if not for that little detail. Had he waited for something, or someone out here..? Or did he just want to go out to watch the stars alone..? Did he think about using the boat, but changed his mind last minute and decided to sit here..? That seemed like the most plausible idea. Not many would be surprised that Sora fell asleep once he got comfortable enough, and the little tree behind him had sheltered him from most of the harsh midnight winds.

Still sitting in front of him, he guesses it's time for the other to wake up. Curious as of how deep the other slumbers, he smiles before he forms his lips to blow a puff of air into the others face. Sora’s brow twitches a little, and at the second, stronger gust of wind, he makes a disgruntled expression and shifts to turn his head to the side. Riku laughs a little at that, and reaches up to pat his hand over Sora’s cheek as the other was too resilient to his waking.

“W-what..” Sora opens his eyes without looking at first, and furrows his eyebrows as he tries to wave the offending hand away from him. But once he sees the others teal eyes so close to his, he jumps a little as his surprise of the other's appearance was accompanied with a sound “Whoah!”. he scoots back, just to find his back firmly planted against the tree behind them. The surprised and yet drowsy expression is just a little too much for Riku, and he laughs softly as he smiles at the other.

“Finally waking up now, sleepyhead? You’re impossible.” Riku smiles still as he speaks, his worry gone once he saw the other’s blue eyes spring to alert. No darkness, no shadow, nothing bad. Just Sora being himself: begin the biggest idiot on this planet. Sora squints a little at the other, and tries to blink the last remains of sleep from his eyes as he looks around himself rather startled.

“Oh-- Oh, did I fall asleep out here..?” Sora gives a sheepish smile after his initial surprise settles down, and he reaches behind his head to stretch himself with a rather content smile. He yawns soon after and crosses his arms as he feels chilly, something Riku can discern as his skin pricks a little at the cold air around him. How the guy fell asleep when it was chilly outside, Riku had little to no idea.

“You sure did.” It’s between a sigh and a singsong as Riku shifts to sit next to Sora, plopping himself down comfortably to the other on the smooth, white sand. While there, he looks in his backpack and pulls out it’s content, the warm sweater he had prepared moments ago. At least he had the mind to think into the future, which he wished the other would share. But oh well, until then, he'd do his best to look out for them both.

“Sorry-- did I worry you, Riku?” Sora watches Riku with curiosity, but his voice is soft as he asks. Guilt seems to take over him for the brief moment, and his lip twitches just once before he continues with explaining himself to the other. “I, I’m sorry, you were actually sleeping for once and I just thought I’d go here and be back soon-”

“Sora.” Riku cuts him off, his voice not harsh nor reprimanding. He’s not smiling as much now as Sora's sudden displaced tone alerts him, but there is still something soft in his features as he looks at the other. Accompanied with their silence after calling the other out, he offers the sweater to him, insisting the other to take it as he refuses to pull his hand back until the other gingerly takes the garment from him.

“... Isn’t that your shirt?” Sora just holds it at first, seemingly confused and unsure in the moment of what to do with it. In the end he hugs the sweater, as if that would be enough to warm him. Riku rolls his eyes a little, but he smiles as he earns a suspicious squint from Sora.

“Yeah, but you wear it most of the time anyways. Pull it on.”  Riku waves his hand slightly and looks at the other, as if making sure Sora would do as told. Sora hesitates just for a moment before he pulls it on over his jacket, and he smiles a little softly as he blinks slowly once it's on. He’s not closing his eyes for all this time, but it was more than his usual blinking. As if he was savoring the moment for just a fraction of a second longer.

Silence falls over them both, the comforting sound of the waves crashing into the beach the only thing they both hear for a good moment. Riku watches Sora have a distant look in his eyes while this silence takes place, and Riku reaches up to scratch his head before he speaks softly to Sora, as if matching the soft tone the other had used before.

“... You were crying before, weren’t you.” Riku tries to strike up the conversation with the other, and it’s hard to hold back a smile as Sora looks at the other with complete shock. Sora probably had no idea how Riku had figured that out, and it takes him a good second before he's able to respond back to the other.

“What-- how did you know!?” Sora can’t really understand this at all, and a moment later he reaches up to rub his cheeks. Feeling the salt residue there, he quickly wipes it off with an offended expression. Now understanding what busted him, he keeps an uneasy silence after as he's not sure how to continue on. He presses his lips together and looks towards Riku's shoes, not entirely sure if he can face the other at this very second. A stray hand reaches to touch his heart, as if calming himself from whatever storm had been raging in his head this night.

“... So?” Riku just waits for the other to respond, and Sora shifts to pull his legs up and hug them. His eyes dart around as if he’s thinking hard of what to say, and after a moment of thinking he reaches back into his pocket to bring out the lucky charm he borrowed from Kairi. The little star made out of shells, and something he held very dear to himself. He and Riku might be involved in a more romantic way these days, but he still cherished his friends fiercely. Kairi was, and will forever be, one of his best friends.

For a long time, silence falls over them both as Riku waits for as long as Sora needs to form his thoughts into words. He was always good to run head first into situations, and he had always a thing or two to encourage his friends with whenever they needed his support. But he wasn’t always the sharpest tool in the box when it came into more internal matters. Which was okay, Riku would always give Sora the time he needed to understand himself, and be by his side for as much as he could. And even if there was a lot he could discern from the other's open expressions, there was no way for him to read the others mind unless he spoke up.

The silence stood, and Riku shifts his gaze to the sky as Sora works in his head next to him. He can practically hear the gears turning, but he'd give him some time and space to give his ideas form still. The sea rolling into the beach was as calming as ever, and Riku took his time to watch each and every star that greeted them from the distance. The wind ruffled the leaves behind them, and momentarily Riku could hear Sora breathe as he mulled over his thoughts. Riku almost fell into his own musings, but was interrupted as Sora at last spoke up to break the silence between them.

“... I don’t know. Something just… Drew me out here. To see the stars.” Sora spoke quietly, unseeming of him. Riku shifts to look at Sora as that was rather unusual for the guy, but not too surprising. Sora was like that sometimes, having some strange inner wisdom peeking out every now and then. The boy in question was looking at the shore in front of them, his eyes intense with his thoughts as he still tried to clear a path through his mind.

“Perhaps someone thought about you..? They are all up there, after all.” Riku doesn't look away from Sora and can thus see as some of the confusion clears from the other expression. His face softens, but he smiles a sorrowful smile that don't quite reach into his eyes. It's solemn and tranquil, and he sees his eyes slowly pool up with tears that Sora stubbornly tries to blink away before they can overflow.

“... Yeah.” He as good as breathes out his response, and his lip quivers for a short moment before a tear quietly falls over his cheek. As soon as he notices however, he reaches up to dry his cheeks with the sweater he had borrowed off the other, as if embarrassed of crying in front of the other.

“Sora..?” That catches Riku’s attention, and his brow furrows as he watches him. The otherwise chipper boy had tears in his eyes again that were soon overflowing, but this time he was smiling a smile that did reach a little further into his eyes. Not entirely happy, but not as sorrowful either..

“I don't know. Something inside me feels sad and yet, happy." He begins once again, stopping only to blow out a puff of air and smile at whatever is storming inside his head. But he continues, his voice more steadfast than before.

"We’re always connected, aren’t we..? It’s a world apart and…  Once out hearts are touched… We’re never truly alone, right? Perhaps it’s not the same stars we are seeing, but… It’s the same sky. No matter where we are, worlds or dimensions apart… We’re still connected by the same sky, right..? No matter how deep one plunges into darkness, or how far into the light you are. We always find a way to each other, don't we..?” Sora blurts out everything at once, and he gives Riku a small, soft smile as his tears at last had stilled.

And for a very brief moment, it's not Sora that he sees in front of him. Or perhaps, it's not only Sora, but something within him accompanying his presence at a fleeting moment. Perhaps it’s the way his voice softens into a tone he usually don’t have, or something in his eyes that feels more than his daily self. There is something there that is beyond Sora, and yet it’s as much Sora as any other time, but the strange presence is gone before Riku can react on it.

Instead he reaches out to wrap his arm around the other, and squeezes the other, sheltering him best he can. Sora leans against him, and slowly reaches to hold on to the arms that's wrapped around him. Riku is almost always warm, and Sora's now cold hard finds comfort in their purchase.

“Yeah.” Once again he just breathes out his reply, and with his sigh he relaxes and leans against the other in their embrace. “Definitively.” Sora says again, a bit more decidedly as he's in the comfort of Riku's arms.

He holds Sora close, and the other occasionally wipes his cheeks in what he thinks is a subtle motion. Riku lets him have the illusion of being smooth for once, once more letting the sea speak for them both as he just holds him and gently rubs the other's back. It's hard to not roll his eyes and sigh as Sora's breathing evens; a telltale sign that he once more has fallen asleep.

“Sleepyhead.” Riku merely muses, but he doesn’t have the heart to pull Sora away from this place just yet. He stays here under the embrace of the dark and holds his partner, smiling faintly as he watches the stars wave at them from the sky. There was nothing he could see, nor any strings that fate pulled in him for this night... He wished he could feel it with the other, but for now he would stay by his side and protect him, for as long as he was ever able to.

“... Whoever who was in Sora’s heart that said that… You’re never alone. Don’t forget that.” Riku whispers into the air, as if telling a secret to the other. He shifts his eyes over to Sora, and can’t help but smile faintly at the sight.

Sora, asleep, smiles softly to those words. As if something, or someone inside him, took comfort from hearing that from the other.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I admit, I never spell checked a lot before throwing it up and out, but I hope it wasn't anything too bad.
> 
> Have a good evening, everyone! <3 And if you go outside to stargaze, remember to bring proper, warm clothes! Perhaps some hot chocolate too, that's never a wrong thing. These two will catch a cold, I bet you my good liver on that one. 
> 
> Todiloo!


End file.
